Zucchini is abundant at the end of summer and into early fall – some would even say OVER-abundant - in home gardens, farmers’ markets, and grocery store produce sections where locally grown ones are very easy to find at the most affordable prices of the year.

And since I always recommend buying and eating produce that’s in season and locally grown as much as possible, it’s a good idea to take advantage of this cheap option to get more veggies into your diet.

I’m always looking for creative new ways to cook with vegetables, so I was intrigued when this recipe popped up in my Pinterest feed not long ago. I immediately checked it out, liked what I saw, and saved it. And when I tried it, it proved to be a winner. It’s a delicious, healthy snack option.

The timing was great since I am always looking for ways to use our bumper crop of zucchini at the end of summer. This year, it was actually our elderly neighbor’s garden that was producing the harvest. He’s in a nursing facility recovering from major surgery, so we’ve been taking care of his property.

Even with an adorable and voracious neighborhood woodchuck helping himself to much of what was growing there before my husband live-trapped and removed him, there was still a big crop.

​That incident with the little groundhog put me in mind of my Mom’s battles with groundhogs when I was growing up. We lived on 20 acres, and both of my parents were avid gardeners. My Dad – ever the academic – made almost a full-time study of his garden, and built more effective fencing on his patch. But Mom was more of a casual gardener at that point in her life, and she squeezed it in among her endless household obligations. She had no time for fences.

So, suffice it to say that the local groundhogs thought they had died and gone to heaven to find their very own salad buffet in her largely unprotected crop. The only thing that deterred them was our beloved dog, Gina, who clearly had some terrier in her the way she’d go after them. They’d run for cover whenever she was on the scene.

But after she died, the ground hogs had free rein and were not afraid of much of anything. They decimated Mom’s plants every year.

They became so cheeky that they’d even come right onto the deck to eat what my Mom had planted there in pots.

That was just too mucheven for my normally genteel, animal-loving Mom, and she declared war. She tried everything she could to rid herself of the exceedingly well fed, tubby little creatures.

Her battle with them came to a head one day when she decided to put smoke bombs down their holes --- which resulted in an out-of-control field fire and the need for several fire trucks on the scene. Fortunately, they were able to contain it before it spread to the woods or other fields.

This incident utterly mortified Mom. She hated to impose on anyone, and considered it rude to do so. So having to call in the local, volunteer fire department just embarrassed her no end.

To make matters worse, an article about the incident, complete with pictures, appeared in the little local newspaper.

That did it.

Mom gave up her battles with groundhogs forever, never grew another vegetable, and stuck to flowers ever after. But the incident became part of our family lore and the anthology of fond memories I hold dear.

Fortunately, things went a whole lot smoother with our own groundhog problem. It only took a couple of tries with the have-a-heart trap for my husband to capture the little guy doing his best to eat his way to roly poly maturity in our neighbor’s garden. And we still got a good crop.
So I had several zukes – as I call them – sitting on my counter ready to use, when this recipe came along. It looked like a good one. And I was right. It’s great.
But as usual, I made some changes to the original to simplify it and to make it cheaper and generally easier to prepare. It’s still just terrific and ready in about 10 minutes -- although refrigeration for an hour or so doesn’t hurt either. But you can find the original recipe here if you want to try the author’s prettier, but more expensive and labor intensive method.
But I’m all about keeping it super simple.
So here’s my version of the recipe:

Wash the zucchini and slice off the ends. Cut the squash lengthwise in half. Then cut across the halves to make smaller pieces. This should make 2-3 cups of diced zucchini. It doesn’t have to be terribly exact.

If you’re using fresh lemons, wash them and cut them crosswise in half. Use a juicer to press out as much juice as possible from each half. You want ¼ to ½ cup, depending on your personal taste. Otherwise, just measure out the lemon juice you are using.

Put the cut-up zucchini in a food processor and pulse until it is a puree consistency.

Add the lemon juice, the ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, the ¼ cup of the tahini, the 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the 1 teaspoon of cumin, and the 1 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper.

Pulse the food processor or blender repeatedly as necessary until the ingredients are well blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl or blender to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated into the mix.

Taste test and adjust the seasonings to taste. Optional: You can add cayenne pepper or paprika to the hummus to give it a bit of a kick. It lends itself to endless possibilities.

The hummus can be served immediately, but it is better if chilled for an hour or more. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

Serve the hummus cold and use chips or pita bread that has been cut into strips or triangles to scoop it up. Or use it as a condiment on bread for sandwiches.

Hi, I'm Nancy, and I'm on a mission to help people eat and live well on a tight budget. Yes, it CAN be done. I should know because I've been doing it for a long time now. I learned cooking and eating on a budget first from my frugal Mom while growing up in a family of 11, then as a poor grad student and a struggling young newlywed putting my husband through school, and in more recent years with my family of 6, including my 4 (now grown) sons. Along the way, I picked up several college credits in nutrition. I've always cooked using a realistic, frugal budget and keeping nutrition foremost in mind. I walk the walk of budget living and cooking every week, even now when we could well afford to spend more. I just don't see the point of doing that when what we've been doing has worked so well for us, saved us thousands, and kept us healthy and happy.

In this section of the blog, I offer some meal plans and recipes, some old, some new, to help get you started on eating well for less than you think and keeping money in your bank account. Every one of them is less than $2 per serving for a full course meal.